Aspects of place in the poetry of John Knoepfle

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to show five methods by which John Knoepfle effectively communicates aspects of place in his poetry. Analyses of many of Knoepfle's poems helped to reveal his techniques and vocabularies of place and to show how his uses of place are significant elements in the interpretations of his poems. He shows place through details of its physical properties; he repeats place terms in reference to the body; he gives a quality of time to dimensions of place; he uses nouns of place; and he puts place within the context of history.The first chapter of this study dealt with Knoepfle's uses of the details of physical place. It explored his method of enhancing each poem's portrayal of place through descriptions of the actual objects, landscapes, structures, and forms of the properties of locations. Knoepfle's definitions of places and portrayals of physical things which occupy these poetic locales were shown through the interpretation of phrases and words which were identified as keys to the reader's ability to view places as they are pictured in Knoepfle's poetry.The second chapter addressed Knoepfle's unique use of the body as a place. Not only the spirit but also the intellect and the flesh and blood are parts of the place which is the body, as Knoepfle describes by time. A place can be different to one's perception of it according to this concept in some of his poems. The body no longer is strictly outside of a place, but also is a place itself; and it is both an occupant of a place and a part of a place. This chapter investigated the paradox of the body's being both actor and spectator.Chapter Three reviewed the ways in which place is shown to be shaped the time of day or season of the year. A location during the early morning is not the same place as it is during the afternoon; nor is a midwinter location the same place as it is during the end of summer. This chapter demonstrated, through examinations of certain Knoepfle poems, that specific words used by Knoepfle actually portray and develop a sense of time for a reader of Knoepfle's temporally depicted poetry.The fourth chapter was concerned with Knoepfle's use of nouns to signify places and the qualities of places. In order to locate places and to make their existence more understandable, Knoepfle was shown as having used both proper and common nouns to define these locations. This chapter consisted of explications of many of Knoepfle's naming poems. Attention to nouns of place was emphasized. Various enhancing definitions of places achieved through the use of both concrete and abstract nouns were investigated.The fifth and final chapter was a study of Knoepfle's uses of histories of places in order to create more definite poetic renditions of them. As in the present, places also change with the passage of years, of centuries. Several Knoepfle poems were studied in this chapter to show how his uses of history are significant in representing places.A complement to this study was an extensive bibliography of Knoepfle's published works, plus writing about Knoepfle by critics, reviewers, editors, and other poets. This bibliography was added to serve as a checklist for persons who desire to pursue their own interests in John Knoepfle as a poet, essayist, and teacher.